During this quest chain on up until Friend of the Exarch, any time there is more than one player trying to access Maladaar, it appears that more than one instance of the NPC is created. At one time, I saw what appeared to be 4 of him in various stages of the quest.

Are you guys confusing Maladaar and Maraad? (I know, I know, their names are SOOOO different!)

The Maraad escort is tricky but we re-did the quest a couple weeks ago so that it should be more robust. We erred on the side of having the escort run frequently, so people wouldn't pile up waiting for it to start. As a result, while escorting him, if your group is fast you might see another Maraad up in front of you. Hopefully we cleared up the problems where you would see four at once, or they would disappear if you "followed the wrong one." (There shouldn't be a "right" one anymore. If you're told to run, go follow him.)

If anyone has played the quest recently (within the last week), I'm curious if you're still seeing problems, ESPECIALLY if they keep you from completing the quest. I'll keep an eye on this thread!

(P.S. Let me know if Akama was acting weird as well during the escort.)